[FPARC] Fwd: ARLB003 FCC noncommittal on "Morse code" proceeding

[Bill Sinbine]

>
>SB QST @ ARL $ARLB003
>ARLB003 FCC noncommittal on "Morse code" proceeding
>
>ZCZC AG03
>QST de W1AW
>ARRL Bulletin 3  ARLB003
> From ARRL Headquarters
>Newington CT  February 14, 2006
>To all radio amateurs
>
>SB QST ARL ARLB003
>ARLB003 FCC noncommittal on ''Morse code'' proceeding
>
>Just when the FCC will act on the ''Morse code'' proceeding, WT Docket
>05-235, remains hazy. The Commission released a Notice of Proposed
>Rule Making and Order (NPRM&O) last July proposing to eliminate the
>Element 1 (5 WPM) Morse code requirement for all license classes.
>The Amateur Radio community filed more than 3800 comments on the
>proceeding, and additional comments continue to show up, even though
>the formal comment deadline was last fall. The next--and
>most-anticipated--step for the Commission is to formally adopt any
>revisions to its rules and conclude the proceeding with a Report and
>Order (R&O) that spells out the changes and specifies their
>effective date.
>
>''There really is no news,'' an FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau
>(WTB) staffer told ARRL this week on background. ''We certainly hope
>to release WT Docket 05-235 sometime this year, but we're not making
>any predictions at this time.'' The WTB staffer indicated there would
>be no ''big announcements'' at the Dayton Hamvention FCC Forum either.
>
>Beyond eliminating the Morse requirement, the FCC declined in its
>NPRM&O to go forward with any other suggested changes to Amateur
>Service licensing rules or operating privileges.
>
>The proceeding began with 18 petitions for rule making--many just
>calling for the elimination of the Morse requirement but some asking
>for more far-reaching changes in the Amateur Service rules. The
>various petitions attracted a total of some 6200 comments. The FCC
>subsequently consolidated the petitions--including one from the ARRL
>asking the FCC to establish a new entry-level license class and to
>retain the Morse requirement for Amateur Extra class
>applicants--into a single proceeding designated WT 05-235.
>
>Worth noting is that the FCC did not propose in WT 05-235 to extend
>HF privileges to current Technician licensees who have not passed a
>Morse code examination. In its NPRM&O the FCC suggested that in a
>no-Morse-requirement regime, such ''codeless Techs'' would be able to
>gain HF access by taking the Element 3 General class written
>examination.
>
>Before it releases an R&O on the Morse code proceeding, however, the
>WTB wants to wrap up action in another Amateur Radio-related
>docket--the ''Phone Band Expansion'' (or ''Omnibus'') NPRM in WT Docket
>04-140, released last April 15. A dozen petitions for rulemaking,
>some dating back to 2001, were consolidated in the Omnibus
>proceeding. In that NPRM, the Commission proposed to go along with
>the ARRL's Novice refarming plan aimed at reallocating the current
>Novice/Tech Plus subbands to expand portions of the 80, 40 and 15
>meter phone bands. The FCC also agreed with an ARRL proposal to
>extend privileges in the current General CW-only HF subbands to
>present Novice and Tech Plus licensees (or Technicians with Element
>1 credit).
>
>Any FCC decision to eliminate the 5 WPM Morse code requirement for
>HF access would have no impact on either the current HF CW-only
>subbands or on the CW privileges of Amateur Radio licensees. The
>Morse code proceeding neither put forward nor recommended any
>changes in CW allocations or privileges.
>NNNN
>/EX


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73, Bill Sinbine
n4xeo at flbb.net